MMW 13 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Mathematics In Medieval Islam, Scholasticism, History Of Pittsburgh

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Outline Lecture Nineteen—The “Renaissance” or Rebirth of Humanism
Key Focus:
1) The tenets of Humanism and how they depart from Scholasticism
2) Socio-political and cultural implications of the Renaissance
I) Medieval Synthesis or Rational Scholasticism
a) Rebirth of the Classical Tradition
i) Universities as the natural home for study of classical texts in 12th century
- Aristotle, interest in Greek medicine, advancements in Arab mathematics
- Dark Ages - lack of development/interest of knowledge prior to the 12th century
ii) Role of Spanish Islamic scholars, and to a lesser extent, Byzantine scholars
-
Arabic texts translated to Latin → exposure to educational texts
b) Tradition of Scholasticism
i) Assumes truth is firm and absolute
-
Truth is always known → never to discover new truths or change current truths
ii) Then what is a scholar’s role?
- Organize and elucidate that truth
- Defend truths
-
Commentaries on classics → re-reading of greek classics, and added analysis,
reinforce new truths or reveal new methods of explanation
-
Commentary/Methodology → can represent a slippery slope
- Nothing bound to remain absolutely the same
c) Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
- Dominican monk (member of clergy), taught at university of paris
i) Synthesized Aristotelian philosophy and Christian Theology
- Fuse human/philosophical reason (logic) with Christian faith
- Ancient Greek traditions
- Tried giving faith more philosophical/logical support
ii) “Summa Theological” as epitome of Medieval Synthesis
- Prove existence of GOd “scientifically”
- Pseudo-science: using new scientific knowledge to enhance and reinforce
people’s faith
(1) God as a Prime Mover
- Nothing can move by itself, nothing can both be mover and moved: need
momentum for propulsion to move
-
If most things that move or move other things, where does this initial
momentum come from? → GOd
(2) Existence cannot emanate from non-existence
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-
Can’t get something out of nothing → have to have something there to
begin with → GOd
-
Whenever aquinas reaches a block in explanation → answers with GOd
iii) Are these arguments based more on science or faith?
- Pseudo-science
- Affirming human reason through medieval synthesis (summa theologica)
- Very much suppressed (human reason - thought of as dangerous, comes
from temptations of devil) by the church during middle ages
- Only faith mattered to the church
II) The Rise of Humanism
a) The Curriculum of Humanism
i) Role of orators and poets
- Espouse study of humanities
-
Vegarius → philosophy, history, rhetoric
- Orators and poets: added oration and poetry to the humanities
ii) Key departure from Scholasticism
- Encouragement of scholars to engage with classics directly
- Critical reason to arrive at new conclusions
- No inherent truth, free to interpretation
- Not to rely on established authorities
-
Reading aristotle → more willing to question and critique aristotelian assumptions
- Before, just accepting his logic but now can question/challenge his writing
iii) Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374)
- Italian poet, known for collecting classics’ manuscripts
- Letters of cicero
-
Saw embodiment of classical virtue and eloquence → development of
humanist perspective
(1) Associating eloquence with classical virtue
-
Art of persuasion (eloquence) and one’s moral virtues → goes hand in
hand
- Humanists strongly believed in this
- Celebrating human reason and knowledge meant also celebrating GOd
(2) “This-worldliness”
-
By reading the classics, people could learn to love virtue for its own sake
→ for most of middle ages, virtue was associated with salvation
- Worrisome about afterlife, but humanists believed salvation could
be reached in “this world”
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Document Summary

Outline lecture nineteen the renaissance or rebirth of humanism. Aristotle, interest in greek medicine, advancements in arab mathematics. Dark ages - lack of development/interest of knowledge prior to the 12th century: role of spanish islamic scholars, and to a lesser extent, byzantine scholars. Arabic texts translated to latin exposure to educational texts: tradition of scholasticism, assumes truth is firm and absolute. Commentaries on classics re-reading of greek classics, and added analysis, reinforce new truths or reveal new methods of explanation. Commentary/methodology can represent a slippery slope. Nothing bound to remain absolutely the same: thomas aquinas (1225-1274) Dominican monk (member of clergy), taught at university of paris: synthesized aristotelian philosophy and christian theology. Fuse human/philosophical reason (logic) with christian faith. Tried giving faith more philosophical/logical support: summa theological as epitome of medieval synthesis. Pseudo-science: using new scientific knowledge to enhance and reinforce people"s faith (1) god as a prime mover.

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